Vodka binges, secret smoking and Big Macs - the life of Kim Jong-un as a boy

Vodka binges, secret smoking and Big Macs - the life of Kim Jong-un as a boy

A FORMER playmate of Kim Jong-un has spoken of his decadent childhood, saying the dictator used to binge on vodka and Big Macs.

PUBLISHED: 17:27, Sun, Feb 23, 2014

North Korea's Kim Jong-un inspects his troops [GETTY]

A former chef, now living in exile, has revealed how the tyrant learnt to drive at the age of seven and was a secret smoker in his early teens.

In a revealing chat, the cook also said the leader showed his temper at an early age and would often shout at people in the royal palaces.

Kim Jong-un grew up with his older brother Kim Jong-chul under the watchful eye of their father, the late Kim Jong-Il.

Kenji Fujimoto – head chef to the dictator - said the two brothers enjoyed playing basketball as children and had their own court in the royal palaces.

But while his brother was a kind team captain, it is claimed that Kim Jong-un would shout at the players.

Mr Fujimoto said that while the locals in North Korea starved, he was sent abroad to buy exotic foods such as fish from Japan or Big Macs from Peking.

He said the two boys were lavished with expensive gifts from a young age and the regular rules did not apply.

Fujimoto said: “Jong-un learned to drive when he was seven. They put a little box beneath his feet to help him reach the pedals and someone gave him instruction. The first car he got was a Mercedes-Benz, and he has owned Mercedes ever since. I’d say he has more than ten now – all bulletproof.”

Kim Jong-un, 31, was described as very mature for his age, always playing the role of leader among his peers.

At 14 he began smoking and would lounge on one of his two personal yachts or played with his jet ski.

Fujimoto said his smoking habit was the only thing that Kim Jong-un kept from his parents.

Fujimoto said: “He’d ask me to wait downstairs for him, he’d come in his Mercedes and we’d go up a little hill and smoke at the car park there. One, maybe two cigarettes. Yves Saint Laurent was his favourite brand. Kim Jong-un drank a lot, too, even as a young teenager – Russia’s finest vodka. Sometimes he’d drink the whole bottle all by himself. Though now he prefers Bordeaux red wine – which was Kim Jong-Il’s favourite”.

Former head chef Kenji Fujimoto has described Kim Jong-un's childhood [GETTY]

For a while Kim Jong-un's father thought he was not interested in girls.

However at the age of 18 he was introduced to the so-called "pleasure brigade" - a team of teenage girls expected to strip, massage and perform sexual favours for those in charge.

Fujimoto added: “He never had a girlfriend. His father thought perhaps he wasn’t even interested in girls. But when he was around 18, there was this one dancer in the palace and Jong-un came to me and said, ‘That girl has really big breasts.' And so I thought, ah he is interested in girls. Now he has a very beautiful wife, Ri Sol-ju."

Fujimoto believes Kim Jong-un executed his uncle Jang Song Thaek last year because of his role in recruiting the pleasure brigade.

Kim Jong Un became leader of North Korea in 2011 after the death of his father.

Earlier this month the United Nations criticised the regime for mass torture, starvation and killing and said those responsible could face a war crimes trial.

Around 200,000 people are kept as political prisoners in camps in a regime and the UN noted that the crimes being carried out there were reminiscent of the Nazis.